New Beginning

Nestled amongst the gravel, hundreds of tiny red-orange eggs thrive on the life-giving oxygen fed to them by the swirling action of the crystalline stream. For Sockeye and, indeed, all five species of salmon found on the Northwest Coast, it is the stream where their life journey will begin. For a good number it is also where their journey will end.

It is amazing to comprehend the amount of information contained within each individual egg. Reproductive cells from the mother and the father fuse to form their offspring. The cells divide and grow and carry genetic instructions to guide the salmon through its many life stages. The tiny cells also enable the salmon to remember the odour of the exact stream in which it was conceived. This will drive the salmon throughout its life and, ultimately, guide it to return back to its place of birth.

I decided to revisit the subject and style of my 2005 “Beginning” with this new image, a “New Beginning”. I did this because I find the egg is a beautiful metaphor for potential. So many endless possibilities and outcomes await the egg as it begins its new life: variables too numerous to count; dreams awaiting fruition. It is also representative of vulnerability. Yet it is in this fragile state of hope, that it retains the most potential. Anything can happen.

I create this print for those whose lives are undergoing change because they, too, are like an egg: vulnerable with an ocean full of hope and potential. Take life for a spin and discover where you end up….

“New Beginning” is a limited edition print using the giclée method of printmaking. This print was released in May of 2016 and printed by Andy Everson at the artist’s own studio in Comox B.C. A total of 109 prints bear the title “New Beginning” and are signed by Andy Everson: 99 in the primary edition bearing the numbers 1/99 through 99/99; 9 Artist’s Proofs; and 1 Printer’s Proof. The acid-free Moab Entrada 100% cotton rag paper measures about 17x17.25 inches. Image size measures about 15x15 inches.